[Lucci’s Fur]: The Traitor in the Ice
#2 of Lucci's Fur
Lucci's Fur: The Traitor in the Ice Warning: This story contains Furry/Man sexing. But you can skip those parts and instead enjoy a story about a man and his friend (who happens to have fur on his body) as they become friends...really really close friends. _"WHY CAN'T YOU WRITE HAPPY STORIES?" -The Inner Conciousness of BeaverReturn _
Caught in the flood of my own memories, the day to which I had spent most of my time in my office (and in my mind) had turn to a night where I found it appropriate to retire myself upon a lonely stool as I sat in front of my home's oak wood bar. I had purchased the bar handcrafted as an item of elegance to sit within my home's guest lobby. Although the alcohol stock was plenty, rarely was the bar in use for social gatherings in these last lonely days. In my old age, as I became more and more ostracized from the communities that once supported me, the bar had less become the sustaining fountain for glorious and sociable events and more a cesspool for my darkest thoughts to gather. As I hid my sobriety within angst-ridden sips of whiskey, it would be night after night, that such alcohols would quickly guide me between realms of complacency into realities of my own sorrow.
It was at this time, that I sat within the once welcoming guest room as I basked in the glow of electric lighting that only a year prior had become the staple of any man's modern home. The commercialization of such technology had spread like wild-fire amongst my neighbours and in the race to stay technologically relevant in such quickly changing times, I had without haste dropped many coin on the so-called "modernization" of my home. Before any other additions to my home, the most pertinent example of this modernization would come in the form of my home's electric lighting. Once a relic of a man's pride, despite the luminance it offered some parts of my home, such modern ideas had long since lost their lustre. As I sat with my fingers greedily curled around a crystal and ribbed glass, even though the room had been brightly lit I was sitting within shadow.
Even though within the dark of the night the snowstorm had relented on its insistent white blanketing (the snow reaching 15 inches in depth over the course of the day) it had become painfully made aware to me through the spreading of rumours, whispered voices would tell of this night being far from anything calm.
My servant Wilfred Abraham entered the guest room, bowing to me in respect, as he spoke, he would summon into my room a conduit to which such rumours would become undoubtedly verified,
"Sir, a Miss Patterson is here to see you." Miss Patterson peaked around the double doors of the large guest lobby as she peered in to see me sitting lonesome at my bar. Turning around to address my servant, without a word I waved her in. Nervously, in keeping a cautious distance from my servant, she approached me. Even though to me many years seemed to have passed, Miss Patterson, evidently immortalized by some universal law of unbalanced reasoning, had not yet met her death and appeared as she had many years ago. As she looked at me encased within an elaborately decadent fox fur coat, that both became an unintentional sign of disrespect to my hybrid servant and an image of a certain hypercriticism that appeared to make her look like a hybrid herself, she spoke to in a panicked frenzy. Her rumbling voice evidently speaking of a lung condition that despite all this time had not yet healed,
"The beasts have begun to riot in the low quarter! The police are urging us to evacuate." The word beasts carried it to the delicate ears of my canine companion and I could only smirk at Ms. Patterson's ignorance, "You have been so reclusive as of late and as an established member of this community I feel that it was my personal duty to carry the news to you."
"I thank you for your concern Ms Patterson. But I will not be leaving my home this night."
"By the good of the lord, you are drunk aren't you? Is that how you have been spending your years? Wallowing in your own disgust and shame? I know things are bad for you as of late and certainly in all your sin," She looked back briefly to gaze an eye at my servant, "you have turned away from those who love you most." Turning her chin upward, physically trying to elevate herself above me, she continued," but despite all the evil you have committed, in these desperate times I am willing to do the proper thing and turn a blind eye to your convictions. In the end, I am not the one who will judge you after all. Come with me, I am offering you a space in my carriage as we will take refuge in my lakeside home."
"And my servant, he will be left in this home alone? To face the rioters when they come?"
"Even in such times as these you are so blinded by your own corruptions. Of course that creature cannot come with us! He's part of the same brute herd that now tears up our industrial quarter!" She spat onto my servant, Wilfred kept himself surprisingly composed but in anger I stood up from my stool. She continued on her ramble, "I have lived long enough to see that these creatures are far too inadequate to ever belong in our visions of society. I had said it back then and I say it now. See the light, my dear friend; come join us back in proper civilization."
Anger guided my hand as I whacked it across her wrinkled and elderly cheek "I never was and never will be your friend Ms Patterson. No my real friend is the very creature you have just spat on. Such disrespect for my TRUE fellow is unwarranted in this home. Carry that very mark I left on your cheek with you and leave my property at once."
Her face turned a shade of red I thought only possible within tomatoes as an odd euphoria overcame my body. Suddenly though, I quickly realized that the reddening of her skin had not been in anger but instead in betrayal as the tears began to stream down her face. I realized all too quickly that I had had acted too harshly. She may not have been a friend to me but somehow I had always been a friend to her and by the very hand that hit her, I had not hurt her physically as much as I had hurt her mentally. At first, in a fluster, she tried to mutter something at me, but too over strung by emotion she could not find her words but instead ran out of my mansion with her face into the sleeve of her coat. Walking up to Wilfred I collapsed into his embracing arms and welcomed the friendly hug he gave,
"Why have these years been so cruel to me?"
"Your intoxication has betrayed you sir. I suggest going to your chamber and waking in the new dawn."
"Wilfred, you know they will make their way to our homes soon enough." I said, looking up at the canine as I laid limply in his grasp, his strong arms suspending me upwards.
"That I do sir."
"When you tuck me in tonight, I want you to run. They will not spare you. The working class hybrid has little care for those hybrids that have become imbedded within higher society."
"I will not do that sir."
"Why?" "Because you are not my master sir as much as you are my friend. And when they come to your home someone will have to tell of your martyrdom. Someone will have to tell them the sympathy you showed, struggled with and the curse your benevolence has caused on your life."
"So write a note on the door and run Wilfred." I laughed.
Wilfred chuckled back, "I'm afraid that will not do much. I will sit by your bed tonight, I will make sure you are a sleep by the time they arrive, and when they do, I will defend your body and I will defend your story, and even if they choose not to listen, if they choose to execute the both of us, I will die happy knowing that at least somebody has heard your story. The bloodlust they have now will not last forever and when you awake within a new dawn you will become the medium to which both our people can begin to find their peace. This world in ending, and from the mountain's peak I can see a glowing horizon."
Moments later and I had retired to my bed. As promised, Wilfred stayed in my room that night. His watchful gaze looking out onto the snow filled cityscape beyond my window, as a glowing orange aura erupted from the low quarter. That night, despite the thick glass that sat between my room and the outside world, the smashes, the crashes, and the screams of the riot would still became the song that would guide me into my slumber.
But before I could close my eyes, before the whiskey would sooth me asleep, I could only help think about the past, the panther, and the duel that would forever change my life.
To my own surprise, when I had awaked that morning in the arms of a hybrid panther, upon a cold rocky surface within the now sunlit grotto, I had not felt any bit of panic or regret. Within this new dawn, within the afterglow of the night before, infatuation had stuck to my body and it hugged me much to the same way the panther had behind me. The grotto was a shell, inside it was love, and as long as we were privately cuddled in this chamber then the outside world had little impact on the thoughts that percolated in my head.
But as the afternoon would carry on, reality would eventually settle in as Lucci spoke to me sitting up away from our cuddled partnership,
"We cannot stay like this forever. I am expected to meet Edward soon before sundown at his offices." "Lucci, the reality outside this grotto, I'm afraid of it. We must stay here just a bit longer." I said, sitting up myself, turning to face the Panther.
"I am scared of it too. I fear that in our own excitement we may not have properly planned our cunning escape." He raised a paw and gently glided it across my cheek. His stoke electrifying my skin.
"We completely disappeared from the party and our clothes were left behind on the shore." I pulled myself away from his paw as I came to a shocking realization, "That is only going to spawn the worst of rumours." Then another realization came over me, "Oh god. What have I done last night?" Then finally a blameful anger, "What did you make me do?"
"Please, stay calm, whatever happens you will have me to help you through this."
"And what exactly can you do." I said, distancing myself as much as possible from the hybrid as I stood stark naked in the small rock cave.
"I do have political weight with Edward. I can ensure your security within the deal I have with him."
"Oh god, I hope that Edward has not found out..."I shook my head; I could not fathom the repercussions of such a horrible fate.
"I'm sure, with you and his honourable guest missing, with their clothes turning up on the beach, the conclusions that could be drawn are quite obvious." The panther spoke, a smile across his cheek tried to convey a humour that I at all did not appreciate.
"Just-Just-Just stay out this. I'll swim back to the beach, find my clothes, and I-I'll-I just need out of this cave." Anger, shame, love, and a lust that even then still teased my genital, all combined into what felt like a world scale war within my soul.
"Allow me to come with you. You should not face whatever awaits you on the shore alone."
"Look. I do not wish to see you again. I was in a moment of weakness last night. You abused that moment of weakness and in that I may be forced to use such a claim against you. A hybrid can be executed for sleeping with a human. Man cannot be judged for his own moments of weakness, making me a victim, but you, in the eyes of our law should be careful in who you seduce." I took a deep breath and spoke as clearly as I could, "I will have you killed to protect myself. Just because you slept with me does not mean that we are lovers or even friends. And if I need to play the victim card to get out of this I will. I am far too important in the industrial race to become lagged behind by a single moment of moral falter. I'm leaving now. I hope you soon realize the shame you have created in bringing such stress upon me. " I side-stepped my way until I was in front of the cave's exit: A crack opening that was half-submerged in sea water. Stepping down into the water, part of my body became underwater as I spoke, "Damn you hybrids. Damn you, damn your animalistic sexualities, and damn your coming to this place."
I lowered my body and pushed myself out of the cave and into the now calm waters of the afternoon sea. It was a considerably easier swim compared to the night before, but as I reviewed my words in my mind, the burden of being so cruel became like an anchor that dragged across the bottom of the sea. The drag so intense that by the time I returned to the beach I was not only nude but completely exhausted. Collapsing onto the beach, I starred into the clear and sunny sky above. Closing my eyes, I heaved heavy breaths out of me as the sun warming rays caressed my nude body. Just as I thought I could fall asleep on the sands beneath me, I heard a voice call out from behind me,
"So that's what you look like naked." Edward said causing my body to shoot upright, "I believe you and I should have a little talk."
I soon found myself sitting in a large office somewhere on the fifth floor of the palace. The room to which I had then become misfortunately placed could only be described as monolithic. The glass dome ceiling sat on a stone frame that bordered the four corners of the large room. The ceilings concave shape stretching past the limits of necessity and into the realm of impudence. In each corner, four grand marble pillars seemingly held up the stone frame of the ceiling, but in reality only aided in the rooms excessive feeling of intimidation. Along the back of the room a large, golden framed, window gave view to the sea beyond. From behind a richly varnished rectangular Lichwood desk, Edward twiddled his fingers while starring at me in silence. His voice reserved until he felt that I had soaked in the sumptuousness of the room completely.
My focus was lost on the desk before me. Lichwood was a rare resource among the furred isles and highly sought after for its strangely florescent green, almost emerald colour. Lichwood trees grew slowly and rarely grew big and so the amount of Lichwood trees needed to commission such a large desk would have required tremendous fortune. As I obsessively ran a finger along its smooth desk top, my amazement in seeing such a splendid furnishing was muted by my own sense of jealousy.
"Yes, that is real Lichwood." Edward finally said, my wide eyes leaving the polish of the desk as they rose to stare at the richly dressed, yet short man before me. Pulling out a cigar box from a cabinet under the large desk, he rested the card-like box on the desk, "Can I interest you in a cigar?"
My unease exercised such an anxiety within me that my throat was left without words. Instead I declined the offer with a raised palm and shaking head. Everything about this office was to embarrass me. The robe I had been given to wear, pink with floral patterns, attributed a sense of oriental and alien feminism within myself, the richly room only aided in further maximizing my insecurity, and then finally when he offered me a cigar, from unspoken words he told me, "I've got you now."
I knew this. I knew all about his strategy. I knew I had flown into the spider's web, but at this point, if I were to further buzz my wings, it would only encourage the web to vibrate, summoning my fate all the quicker. His grin, to the outside spectator would have encouraged warmness and comfort, but from the chair I sat, I could only help but feel belittled. Putting a cigar to his mouth, cutting it, and then lighting it with a silver lighter from within his pocket, he puffed out a cloud before further speaking with me,
"I'm glad to see you enjoyed my party. They are always such a hassle to coordinate but in the end there is nothing more rewarding then when such an event comes together and you get that feeling that your guests are-- fulfilled."
I still had no words to say.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" He laughed to himself, "Sorry, that was a cruel expression. I don't mean to make things any more awkward then they already are." He sighed, tapping the ash of the cigar onto the expensive desk - a sign that even that Lichwood desk was beneath him, "I am not disappointed in you my friend. As a business man myself I solely understand the importance of," He paused, searching his thoughts for the right word to say, "negotiations."
"I can explain-" I hastily spoke as my hands slammed down on the table. My greatest fear exposed within my sudden realization that Edward knew EVERYTHING.
"Some seek capital negotiations, others seek negotiations of respect, and then, every now and then, us business men, we get involved in more personal negotiations. I cannot blame you, do not worry. His charms sure are irresistible aren't they?
I paused, "Did you--, I mean did you also-"
"Seek personal negotiations with Lucci? As you should learn, a proper businessman is like a magician: he never gives away his secret." Edward paused again. Edward was a master of pause. He was a master of extending his speech so that each sentence prodded me like a swordsman's strike. "But why do you ask? Would that make you jealous?" His deriding look made me shrink in my chair, "Don't say that you had done such an act romantically?"
"No! I had not-"
Edward slammed a fist on the table, "Then why did you do it? Was it to turn my influence away from him? Were you planning on becoming my competitor? I meant what I said last night. I had thought we could be business partners but now that I know of your backstabbing ways I-"
"Please, it's not like that--" I pleaded but again Edward interrupted me with a raised palm,
"NOW...That I know your backstabbing ways I KNOW we can be business partners. You showed guts, courage, and you did what you thought would get you the upper hand. That is the kind of man I'm attracted to."
"What?"
"But you understand. That you've created for yourself a bit of scandal. A lot of people saw you leave with Lucci at the party and the fact you never came back--Well that's going to raise some questions. Rumour has it that Ms. Patterson with no haste has created plenty of gossip to spread around. If such rumours were to stain your reputation, well that would look bad on both our businesses. Fret not. I have ample resources to help quell the fires that have developed around your name."
"What exactly are you planning?" The robe had become too warm, my body too sweaty, my mouth too dry, and my nerves became overly shaken.
"You need not know how I will protect you. No. All YOU need to know is that I WILL protect you. But you have to understand that my commitment to this issue--my generosity-is going to require a hefty amount of compensation. But I doubt you can put a price on the protection of your own honour. I was forgiving, very understanding, maybe even compassionate towards you, but there are many people who are less-humanely perspective than me."
"C-C-Compensation?" My nervous rattles had grown to vibrate through my entire body.
"I ask you for a simple monetary donation to ensure that this event cleanly blows over. The deal will be this: you will not only partner me to your business, making me an official cohort, but I will also get 60% of your market shares. I know the price seems hefty but I assure you my protective services will be top notch in this case. I do have to look after my business partner after all."
"60%? I cannot afford that!" I cried, swishing back my hair in my hands.
"Well you are going to have to," He assaulted me with words, his elevated voice lambasting with feelings of shame, "because if you don't, not only will your business crumble in the wake of your misbehaviour, such an act committed as this one is enough to completely ruin a man. I would hate to see a man as young as you fall before he had the chance to reach true glory."
To relive such an experience is difficult for me. The conversation had continued as I'm sure other words were said, but the next thing I remember within my mind is Edward's final words to me,
"I'm glad that we have managed to work this out. I will come by this Friday with my notary and we will finalize our arrangement. Do not worry. This will be over soon enough."
Edward offered me a carriage home but did not offer me a change of clothes. Needless to say, on the long carriage ride back to my home I had kept the windows closed and my face within my palms. When Edward had called me young that morning, he was right, once upon a time I had been young, I had once been as prideful as a newly made man, but when Edward made me face defeat, true defeat for the first time, my youth had been stolen from me. He had successfully attached puppeteer ropes to my arms and legs, and as he moved me across the stage, he pulled and tugged viciously until he was sure that he broke me.
When I had got home my servant greeted me at the door. At that time my servant had been a young blonde man by the name of Erik. He dared not say anything about my current attire, but I saw the eye he gave me, and it only aided in making me feel worse. Fearing he would question me, I spoke first and boldly,
"Draw me a bath. Say no words. Just draw me a bath and ready my bed."
The bath did not relax me and there was no rest to be found within my bed. In the next morning, as I sipped on a coffee in my office chamber, only the heat of the cup itself could be felt. The concoction itself did little to ease my lingering fatigue. I tried to study the pile of records in front of me, exercising my tired brain to decipher some sort of budgetary miracle plan. But for each number I read, for each line I passed, my mind only continued to tell me one thing, "its over."
With a wrathful arm I swept the papers off of my desk, screaming in my own dismay. My rage rattling my bones until it dissipated into sorrow. The darkness was weakening as I dropped my head into the comfort of my arms where I started to weep desperate tears into the sleeve of my soaking pyjamas.
Just then a rapping at the door broke me from my personal suffering; Erik spoke to me from beyond its wooden material.
"There is a-a Sir Lucci here to see you sir." Erik said sounding apprehensive towards the Hybrid within the home.
"Let him in." I tried to tell myself I did not wish to see him but in the wake of everything that had gone wrong, part of me wished for his comfort.
"Thank you for letting me in." The panther addressed Erik, who did not return any words to Lucci but instead rudely turned his back and left. The Panther was dressed in a black suit that was similar to the white one he wore the night we met. There was a bowler hat resting on his head, the rim of which had become covered in specks of melting white snow. As he took off his hat he smiled at me but I did not return the gesture. Instead I grumbled in the lowest voice I could muster,
"What are you doing here?"
"I've come to help. I heard about Edward's offering and I think you should not accept it."
"Oh?" I sat up in my chair and invited him to sit at the desk in front of me, "Please, educate me on how you think I will get out of this mess."
Lucci accepted and sat down in the chair. Despite the odium I felt for him, when his amber eyes looked up at me my heart still skipped a beat. Again he tried to send me another warm smile but that too I had ignored,
"My influence may not be great in these lands but I do know people that can help you. I could even offer funding to help hire a lawyer that would be useful in accusing Edward of blackmail." He said, pulling out a paper envelope from the inside of his jacket.
I did not look at what he placed on the desk, "You have done enough damage. I can only image what your presence here will do to continue to hinder my situation."
Lucci pointed to the paper, "That paper comes from my personal treasury. It is reparation for any damages I have caused you. It is not much but I hope you accept it in my apology."
"Keep your money. You'll need it more then I will."
"Don't be so cross with me. I am only trying to help you."
I stood up from my chair and turned to face the fireplace behind me. I could no longer face him. As I spoke, I spoke into the fire,
"You are naive in our lands. You just don't get how things work. Edward has me in his hand. It's over for me. You ruined my life that night. No amount of money is going to fix that."
The panther grabbed the paper envelope and put it back into his jacket sighing loudly. "It hurts you know. I have had to deal with a lot of pain in what your people have done to me thus far. But nothing hurts more than how you are treating me right now. I had sensed so much good in you, I put so much trust in you despite our differences-"
"Stop it." My hand crunched into a ball and a rage began to shake my body once more.
"Sorry?"
"Do not talk such rut!" I whirled around and faced the panther with angered eyes. Wild and bulging orbs demonized my face as I quickly lost my temper at the panther. From the fireplace an orange glow painted me in a luminescent war paint as I shouted savagely at him, "You trusted me? Did you also trust Edward when you laid with him too?"
"You think I had been with Edward?" His confusion seemed all too convincing.
"Well it was all in good business was it not?" I grabbed my coffee cup on the desk and threw it at the far wall. As it shattered Lucci jumped, raising his paws defensively in front of him as he leapt out of his chair.
"I'm only trying to help! Please listen to me when I tell you I would never-I have never-been with Edward."
"Oh I'm sorry have I dishonoured you? Do you feel dishonoured? Well what does a half-piece of filth like you know about honour anyways? You just lay with whoever you want and you don't even worry about the consequences." I shoved two strong hands against Lucci's chest causing him to stumble backwards.
"You are upset. You are getting out of hand."
"No. I am not getting out of hand. You ruined my life. I will never forgive you for what you did to me. You think I dishonour YOU by saying YOU slept with Edward. Well let me show you the real meaning of dishonour. Let me show what real dishonour feels like. Let me show you what my people do when we are truly dishonoured." As black words foamed out of my mouth, my words acting like an unseen drool from the most hellish of dogs, I had slid my way over to the office door. Opening the door I called out into the lobby, "Erik, come to my office quickly."
"Yes sir?" Erik said arriving quickly, a disapproving eye at the hybrid.
"This man has brought me dishonour and as such I am challenging him to a duel. Ready two carriages, one to be driven by you, the other to be driven by the horse keep. Also ready two pistols and place them in their official cases. We shall meet at the frozen lake just west of here." I ordered Erik, holding my rage temporarily in favour of sounding official.
"Duel? You cannot be serious!"
"Yes sir!" Erik said quickly running off. I turned my attention back to Lucci,
"It's time you pay for your actions, slut! I will see you bring no shame to any man ever again."
"I will not duel you." "You do not have a choice. One cannot simply refuse a duel in our lands. If you refuse I have right to call for your imprisonment and execution."
"This is a little drastic do you not think? Calm yourself before you sentence me to death!"
"Calm myself? Only in seeing you dead will I ever have the salvation I need."
"Do you truly feel that way? Truly, this is how you feel?" The panther had water welling underneath his eyes but he quickly wiped them away with a furred paw, "Then so be it."
A while later as I sat in the carriage on my way to the frozen lake, I had begun to feel remorse in calling the duel. In the buggy of the carriage, in my own solitude, a feeling of disgust overcame me. My heart had suddenly begun to slowly thaw from a deep freeze much like the snowflakes had begun to thaw on Lucci's hat when he entered my office. Now wearing a black cotton winter jacket and top hat, I rubbed my brown leather gloved hands together in nervousness as my memory flooded back to the night we shared together. I remembered the feeling his lips gave me when they had met mine for the first time. I remembered that odd yet sensual feeling all too well. I remembered how the wake of the kiss's force had been able to break down generational barriers of collective cultural ignorance in the favour of encouraging a simple, yet confusing love. I remembered the strong ocean of that night. I remembered how when I kissed him, I no longer questioned myself, and with the sheer desire to embrace him I was ready to face waters that had almost drowned me. Love had made me so stupid that night I had almost killed myself. Now with Lucci's willing to sacrifice himself, I had begun to wonder if it was love that made him accept the duel.
From beside me I could feel the gentle embrace of a visiting angel, her feminine form whispering from divine lips into my open ear, "Don't do it." Crystal blue eyes would summon forth falling tears that would magically phase through my jacket and sizzle as it landed on the surface of my skin beneath. Holy water, from the tears of the angels themselves, it tried to purify the burning rage that had possessed me so darkly.
The carriage halted and I exited it unto the surrounding snowy wintery scene. Slumbering trees stretched bare branches into the sky as an encasing ice formed around them. Holding them within a sacred chamber, the ice fought like a barrier against time as it would forever hold the memories of this lake hauntingly in my mind. I knew this to be true. I knew that my memory's gallery would never remove the melodramatic painting presented before me as our carriages came to meet on that lake's edge.
The lake itself was blanketed and unseen as the water's reflective surface hid under a white curtain so that no man could mirror themselves within it. One could not see where the edge of the lake actually was but still I knew where we stood. In the spring, I had seen that lake many a times and even despite the snow that hid it from my eye's view, I still knew the place where my reflecting self hid under a thick barrier of frozen ice.
The falling snow descended around us as though it was flour falling from a baker's sieve. The wind barely noticeable, the snow would drop undisturbed within a mostly linear pattern. It's numerous and collective shower acting like a veil before my face as it casted the image around me into a dreamy haze. Still to this day as I remember back, I never really imagine the lake's scene being part of this world. Instead I see it as this anomalous segregated piece of earth. A world that is no longer ours, but my own, a world that I have encased within a glass dome. It has become a snow-globe world to place on my mantle; a place where I will see it often, and shake it often as I pass.
From my carriage, Erik approached me opening a thick wooden case. Resting on a velveteen cushion was my silver flint lock pistol. I grabbed it and examined it as bits of snow fell onto its barrel leaving the finger prints of cherub children as they urged me to put it away. But I could not put it away.
Lucci exited the carriage moments later and he too was handed a pistol. But he did not look at it. Instead through amber eyes he peered through the snowy pall before us, betraying the limited visibility of the veiling snow for the chance that I would see the wounds bleeding from behind his gaze. But I could not see it.
Erik met between us, and through the obscuring snow, his shadowy figure told us our conditions,
"There will be five paces till draw. Turn backs and begin at my mark!"
Erik paused before shouting, "Mark!"
Perhaps I would have had the chance to meet his gaze, to see the missing jigsaw that would have completed the puzzle--that would have stopped me from pacing, stop me from duelling, if I was not so quick to turn my back to him. "One!" Erik shouted. And I took my first step away. But regardless of what my heart told me,
"Two!" Erik shouted. And I took my second step away.
Regardless of the messages the falling snowflakes tried to whisper to me, like a million bottled messages floating in an endless sea,
"Three!" Erik shouted. And I took my third step away.
Regardless of the memories that dragged through the snow as though as I was an Ox carrying a plough,
"Four!" Erik shouted. And I took my fourth step away.
Something dark had entered my heart on the shores of that beach that night and as Erik called,
"Five!" I spun myself around and threw my pistol up.
BANG!
My pistol cracked its flint lock as the sound exploded from its metal; the unsettling burst disrupting the serene scene around us. Suddenly, the snowy veil fell in rags before me and my opponent was now in clear view. Even though we each had been five paces apart, I had finally been able to see his amber gaze. As I finally saw those glowing eyes, those two golden discs, those two rare treasures, fade away to the sands of time like the secrets of the most ancient of civilizations my heart sank to the darkest of depths. As his paw rose to grasp his chest, the bullet striking his heart, I noticed that he had not even lifted his pistol. He did not even try to draw.
"No!" I screamed as my echo followed the resonating sound of my pistol shot. My voice chasing the first sound through the woods of the lake like a guardsman would chase a bandit. Lucci fell to his knees but before he could fall onto his back, in my rush to grab him, I had caught him in my arms.
Caught between panic and sorrow I shrieked "You did not fire! You did not even lift your pistol!", as a vaporous cloud erupted from my lips. In my arms he shivered, his blood leaking from his body, onto my jacket, and then dripping onto the pure snow beneath us.
"Some lessons are best learned harshly." He coughed, wrapping his arms around me as he pulled me in closer, "You were always a good person and even in my dying breath I still believe it."
"You'll be fine. You cannot die!" I urged the life to stay within him.
"You wanted to see me dead. You wanted to see me gone because you thought it would solve all your problems. But within you I cannot die. I may leave this physical body, but in your soul I will always be a ghost. You love me, I knew you did from the moment you first saw me, and because of this I know you will never let me leave your mind. I never want to leave your mind. For perhaps then we can truly be together."
"No! You're fine. Keep talking." I shook him trying to keep him awake, more of his blood pooling around me, "Erik! Get a doctor!" I shouted at Erik.
"For him? Master, I'm not getting a doctor for no Hybrid." Erik protested.
Lucci closed his eyes, "We shared a night that defied all possibility. Remember that. Remember how we shared a night. Let it remind you the good you have inside of you. Of the love that can prosper even against the worst of all odds. Know that as I die now, I do not blame you, I only give you this lesson; never let someone tell you who to love. For love is a power that brings people together, not tear them apart and only when people see love-true love-will they see the bind it creates."
Lucci's body went limp in my arms. I knew he was dead but nonetheless I screamed at Erik,
"Get a DOCTOR! For the love of all mercy!"
Erik starred at me with defiant eyes, "Why? He's dead anyways."
"You let him die." I cried, "You let him die! Get out of my sight!"
Erik scoffed at me, telling me off with a look that told me that I did not fire him, he in fact quit. Both Erik and the other carriage driver left on the same carriage, leaving me and Lucci alone within that wintery scene. For a while, I could only hold his dead body, heartbreak preserving me against the winter as I stayed frozen like a statue. I felt no chill, no warmth, I felt no hunger, no thirst, I could only hold the limp body that was in my arms, I felt lost.
Finally moving, something inspired me to take the second carriage back home. As I drove back, I placed Lucci's body in the buggy. Later that night, when the snowfall returned, I buried him in my yard.
A few days later and it was Friday. As I sat in my office with Edward and his notary, I looked over the contract, a pristine and white piece of paper that upon my signature would sign 60% of my business over to Edward. For a while I humoured him. Reading it over, I enjoyed casually glancing at the look of anticipation of his face. Where his grin was so sincere, his notary remained stone-faced and official, stamp ready in his hand. After holding the glorious suspense for a little while longer I dropped the paper on my desk and leaned forward,
"I unfortunately have a counter offer." I smiled.
"I don't think you are in a position to bargain, my friend." He smiled back, a nervous twitch in his eye. I picked up the paper and ripped it between my hands, a clean tear directly down the middle. I smiled the same smile back,
"I no longer find your services needed."
"I do not have to sit here and witness such disrespect. You surely don't understand the severity of your situation. You have spat in the face of someone who is offering you the only aid you have. Your business is ruined! You are ruined! I will make sure your deeds spread like wildfire."
"Go ahead and tell them, I'm not ashamed. Wilfred, can you please show these men out?"
My newly hired hybrid servant, Wilfred, was more than happy to show the men out. As he closed the door behind them, a feeling of warmth filled my heart, as two phantom panther paws came to rest on my shoulder. Resting my hand on those paws I knew that finally, for the first in such a long time, felt the good Lucci always believed I had inside of me. I whispered to him, "From this time on, Lucci, I need not grieve for you."
My memory faded and I found myself still awake in my bed. The riots outside were even louder as they invaded the homes of my neighbours. As the ear shattering sounds of grandiose windows being smashed in the night added to the orchestric chaos of the riot below, I unpleasantly listened to the screams of the people I had only before seen at moments glance. Not everyone had evacuated my neighbourhood it seemed. As I listened to the cries, to the neighing of panicked horses, to the destruction, to the apocalypse below, I though back to Lucci's words,
"Love is a power that brings people together, not tear them apart and only when people see love-true love-will they see the bind it creates."
The sounds of the riot began to fade as I felt two ghostly arms come up and wrap me in a warming embrace. The sudden an odd sensation not at all off-putting as I immediately comforted myself in the phantom behind me. A nibble on my ear, a lick on the back of my neck, I turned my body around as two ember eyes looked onto me,
"I missed you." He said, his loving smile encouraging an extra pulse within my heart.
"I missed you too." I held his feline head in my hands and then kissed him. Our lips locked, secured perfectly in place as I felt a shock of passion shiver from one body to the next. With just the kiss between us, we already melted into each other, our closeness pushed to the next limit, the space between us infinitesimal, and our bodies on the brink of almost melding into one being. Our intimacy undying, our passions released, our lengths grew in perfect unison together, like the stem of two partnered plants growing within the same clay pot.
As the world around me faded, I felt myself lapse out of time, the chaos around me dissolving away until it was only me, Lucci, and the bed to which we shared our kissing embrace. A lowering paw grabbed that which had grown together, holding them as he had once held them before, shaft against shaft within a single large paw. Stuck in the bind of our own kiss, I spoke through the language of our tongues, encouraging him as he massaged genital against genital, our arousal unanimous.
He pumped harder, and so we kissed harder, our dancing tongues, a duet on a stage, as my whimpers of pleasure, his low purr, began the orchestra to which they became union. As they danced there was no other thoughts infecting my brain, but instead a white purge that left me in a state of nirvana. Only the body in front of me mattered. Suddenly I had to break the kiss between us; suddenly I had to tell him,
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
Between my huffs of breath, as his grip tightened, his grasping pump pushing harder, I listened to him as he confessed his love to me. His voice, a carrier angel, whisked like the softest of winds over my skin, leaving goose-bumps in their wake. Our kiss joined again, my pre-ejaculate leaving a trial on his shaft as it was pushed up and down along his larger member. I felt tightness build inside of me, a stress within my fleshy orbs that called for release, but I would not have it. I broke the kiss again, pushing him away with a soft hand on his chest. Suddenly I had to tell him,
"I want you."
"I want you, too."
He was now laying on his back as I straddled myself over him. Grabbing his large member in my hand, I lined it to my hole. I leaned forward; kissing him deeply once again as I slowly lowered myself. I moaned into the kiss as I felt him widen me. I could take his member with heavenly ease but could not force myself silent as the sensation of him entering me brought me to a new realm of pleasure. I continued to lower myself, teasing in my action, but soon Lucci would have enough of this game, and with a strong thrust brought me to the base of his crotch. As I began to ride, impaled upon the throne of his lap, we still remained bonded with an everlasting kiss. His low purr vibrated his tongue, vibrated his chest, vibrated his self as it penetrated the passage that I lovingly offered him. Rising and lowering myself upon the impressive spear as I read every adoring message his body sent me.
I remembered the sound of the crashing waves. It becomes within me a mentally audible flood that filled my mind, my memory, with the image of our first kiss. The image, everlasting, forever impacting, its spotlighting glow enveloped me as I continued to push and pull myself against the desiring flesh of his grand genital. My body laying into him, his vibrating vocal oscillations, his warming fur, and his two paws that came to grasp my hips spoke of a pure animalistic need towards me. Joining me as I rocked myself within his lap, I felt him beginning to thrust as well, our rhythm perfected; his purr turned into a low growl. He will release himself soon that I knew.
Breaking the kiss, I pull my body up straight and my erection darts before me, solidified in form. I grasped one of his paws and place it on my throbbing desire. He got the message as he began to pump my cock in his large feline paw once again. My orgiastic mind betrayed me and I broke the rhythm, a hand falling onto his furred pectoral. I had become misplaced but he was able to keep the rhythm himself, penetrating me with lustful vigour, a fiery need, his arousal undying as he gave into my body.
A white wash electric release physically pulled his head back as I gazed onto him. In his face, he had become lost in his own powerful orgasm. Explosively, the panther's hot seed and swollen erection suddenly and pleasurably filled my cavity. I dropped myself to the base of his lap, his arousal a cork to keep his gift inside of me, as my hand replaced the weakened paw which had fallen in the throes of passion off of my rigid staff.
My own pleasure within my own hand, I stared onto the panther with love, and again listened to the sounds of the beach as they filled my mind. Soon enough however, I closed my eyes, shivering as white streams were shot across the chest fur of the panther. My streaks of white seed leaving thin strikes against the ebony canvas before me.
Gasping in the wake of my own orgasm, I sat impaled on the panther for a while before fatigue forced me to lie down beside him. Body beside body, his arms wrapped around me one last time, my eyes closing, I soon drifted into one last deep and eternal sleep.
His story told, the man and his panther rested together one last time upon a bed of pure ivory. They did not know this but for the while they had become like a canoe on the waters of the poet's river. The heavenly canal had always been following the pair. Its waters had flown in subterranean caverns all throughout the story, guiding delicate memories, hiding happiness in a story so sour. At one time, before this story, from a hidden fount poets had once collected the waters in ornate vases, where it had become the waters of the Eunoe. But in this world such waters have flooded, and now it is just an abyss.
That abyss, the swallowing entity that had suddenly formed around them begins to surround them, pulling them deeper and deeper into itself, until they appear like they are shrinking in the distance. Smaller and smaller they go until they are but a distant star in a blank expanse, but soon too that star is gone, and the void is empty once again. Hold a mirror one last time to our earth and look upon the reflection. That was the world of this story.
Okay, you caught me. It's a bit of a rush job. I edited this like RIGHT now on a sleepless night because I'm terribly addicted to caffeine. But I wanted to get this submission done before the holidays. I'm done school this weekend and I'll be going home soon where unfortunately in the wake of home-time relaxation I will not be writing any new furry submissions. So see you guys in the New Year. As for this story, I think I like Lucci's Fur part 1 more. I had ALOT more fun with Lucci's Fur part 2, really playing with some ideas I had in my head and I am really proud of the "duelling" scene, but I don't feel the same amount of accomplishment I did in part 2 then I did part 1. Perhaps I'm being hard on myself (as I often am) but I think I used less of the whole period piece style (which really made Part 1 so interesting for me) to engage in something that feels A LOT more experimental. The winter scene was something I really let myself go with. I think it works wonderfully but you guys will be the true judge of that.
Also, I find this piece is too dialogue-y. I've had the critique before that I sometimes can ramble on with my dialogue but dialogue is something I really do love to write. Especially Edward's character who I had ALOT of fun making sure that you hated him (You do hate him right? Cause if you don't I'm so firing Daniel Day Lewis...Who played Edward in this story. [Shh! Don't tell him, k?]).
I encourage you guys in your comments to try and ask questions as they come up when you are reading because I do like playing with symbols, representations, and references, but if you find it is ruining the flow of the story, than I REALLY ask that you give me critique on how I can better myself, especially when I try some of my more poetic ideas. It's the kind of writing I'm interested in...I like experimentation. Honestly, if you want to see the beaver smile, then ask me questions, or brave the deciphering yourself. I TRY really hard to add an extra level to all of my writing. Sometimes I cut out a lot in the planning process as I say this might not be the best site to practise...like...FELLINIAN levels of strange...but other times I can't help but be playful with you readers. I just love you guys so much :3!
One last thing about the story, I purposefully went a little overboard with the romance scene this time. I kind of liked [No Name] and Lucci and even I felt bad about their tragic end. I wanted their final scene together to give them the love scene that both of the character's deserved. As for future projects (New Years!), I thought about doing a journal entry that would give a little insight into MY life currently while maintaining my ever so valued internet anonymity. I thought about telling two truths for every one lie. It'll keep it interesting and mysterious. No, I'm just a coward. I fear the day that I start publishing some of my writing and have someone realize my stuff is very similar to the stuff my alter ego's write all around the internet. Or maybe I should just start doing these author notes in the journal >_> As they keep getting longer and longer and lonnnggeer...
CyberNecromancy chapter 3 will be coming. Probably going to be the next story I write. I'm trying to convince myself that it's O.K. to feel like I suck at Sci-Fi, I just got to keep practicing. Each failure is a lesson right? I love the plot I have planned. I just need to write it and stop worrying about how good it is.
As for independent stories....I'm currently musing on a couple of stories
- My version of the high-school crush/coming out story. Taking that age-old favourite plot and mucking it up with some added "fun" (Not the sexy kind...the strange WTF kind)
- A family drama concerning blackmail, old/younger intercourse...That's all I'm going to say!
- A western idea which will be an experiment with the western genre as well as a bit of a homage to some of my favourite western films (Won't say which ones!)
- I thought about retrying writing a horror much to the tune of my last Halloween story but perhaps I should rest that one for a bit.
- As soon as I can perculate it properly I'm still thinking about doing a gay/ambiguous buddy cop story.
- A story about a yiffy fox who has sex with his roommate. TWICE.